Defining Report Calculations

You can define formulas to calculate row or column amounts. For example, you can define a row calculation which sums all of the rows above it in the report. Or, you can define a column calculation which calculates the difference between two previous columns.

Note: General Ledger stores credit balances as negative numbers and debit balances as positive numbers, so you should define your calculations accordingly. For example, if you want to calculate a gross margin row, add (rather than subtract) your cost of sales row to your sales row.

Note: You can assign either accounts or calculations to a row or column set, but not both.

To define a calculation:

1. From the Rows or Columns window, choose Calculations.

2. Enter a sequence number for each step of your calculation. This controls the order FSG follows when performing the mathematical operations required to complete the calculation.

For example, to calculate a derived row using the formula A(B+C), enter sequence numbers to perform the addition first, then multiply the result by A:

Sequence

Operator

Operand

10

Enter

B

20

+

C

30

*

A

3. Enter the mathematical Operator for each step of your calculation. Valid operators for row or column calculations include:

+

Add

-

Subtract

*

Multiply

/

Divide

%

Percent

ENTER

Enter value

MODE

The mode of listed values

AVERAGE

The average of listed values

MEDIAN

The median of listed values

STDDEV

The standard deviation of listed values

4. Enter a Constant, a range of sequence numbers, or the name of a row or column to use in each calculation step.

Constant -- Enter a number to use as a Constant value. For example, as part of an earnings-per-share calculation, you might enter the number of outstanding common shares as the constant by which you divide net income.

Sequence Low and High -- Instead of a constant, you can enter the Low and High sequence numbers corresponding to the range of rows or columns to use in your calculation.

The Operator is applied to each row or column in the range. For example, if you use the + operator on a range of four rows, FSG will add all values encompassed by the four rows.

Row Name or Column Name -- Instead of a constant or a sequence range, you can enter the name of a specific row or column to use in a calculation.

For example, assume you have a report with three columns, representing actual, budget, and variance amounts. The first two columns are named Actual and Budget. When you define the calculation for the variance column you can instruct FSG to subtract the column named Actual from the column named Budget. The result, the variance from budget, will be displayed in the third column of your report.

Note: If you use row or column names in your calculations, make sure the names are unique within the row set or column set to which they belong.